Each book is a journal written by Ryan. Ryan lives in the small town of Skeleton Creek, and he and his friend Sarah have stumbled upon a mystery that almost killed Ryan. This mystery has both sinister elements and a large dose of conspiracy, and neither Ryan or Sarah are safe once the story begins.

So what makes this book different from most other mystery series for young adults? It’s the creepy online videos that Sarah (a budding video journalist) keeps emailing to Ryan. After every five to ten journal entries that Ryan puts down, readers find Sarah’s website address along with a password — visit the site, enter the password, and watch a video that ties the journal entries together. Ryan is trying to put the puzzle together with his own style of research, and Sarah simply jumps in with her video camera running and posts what she discovers.

I know… I’m being vague. I’m not telling you what the overall mystery is or what has happened to Ryan and Sarah to make them want to keep digging and putting their lives at risk. But I can assure you that Patrick Carman has created a mystery that is realistic, entertaining, and downright creepy.

How creepy? I don’t care if you’re 8 years old or 48, just watch the very first video by yourself, in the dark, late in the evening as I did. Scary movies don’t really bother me, but I jumped. Seriously jumped. That’s how drawn in I was from the first few journal entries and the video. And let me tell you… the videos don’t let up. You’ll meet residents of Skeleton Creek who may or may not have hidden agendas, you’ll return to some of the scariest places in Skeleton Creek over and over again… and you’ll need to examine sketches and sticky notes that can provide valuable clues to the mystery.

And just when you think you’ve got the story figured out… when book #1 is wrapped up and you’re feeling all safe and secure again? Ryan and Sarah have one final video that’s being broadcast live to the world as they attempt to solve the mystery. Want a hint at what happens? Click and drag your mouse pointer over the hidden sentence after this colon: It does not end well for Ryan and Sarah.

[Keep reading below for more details about the series — or stop if you don't want to ruin the experience of the follow-up books in the series. I'll try my best to avoid spoilers but I do want to explain how the series continues.]

And that’s book #1. And, yeah… things aren’t getting any better in Skeleton Creek. What I can tell you is that the real mystery in Skeleton Creek that starts in book #1 ends in book #2, Skeleton Creek: Ghost in the Machine. And the ending for book #2 will blow you away. Many more videos (a few that, again, caused me to jump) await the reader as well as even more clues for the reader to examine and try to figure out.

Book #3, Skeleton Creek: The Crossbones, picks up shortly after book #2 ends but things are much different for the main characters. Without giving away too much, let me just say that Sarah and Ryan now have some distance between them as well as a completely new mystery to solve and an old one that comes back to haunt them. And the fourth and final book in the series, Book #4, Skeleton Creek: The Raven, has just been released with both mysteries (yes, two of them now) from Books #1 to #3 wrapping up with… well… I just cannot say anything without spoiling something or giving some part of the story away. Just trust me… it’s awesome.

So, I’ll return to my initial statement about this series being great for those kids who avoid reading. (And for kids who loves to read? My guess is they’ll finish each book in a day or two… they’re that good.) Because most of the videos won’t make sense unless you read the journal entries, I’m betting parents will find this series to be of great interest to their difficult readers. The journal entries are typically short and fast, allowing readers to pop in a bookmark and continue later… if they can actually stop reading. The videos are fun… dark… twisted… and definitely spooky. Your kids will keep saying “Just one more entry…”

I purchased the first book for a nephew who enjoys reading… I sat down and read it to make certain it was going to be something he’d like. And after watching the very first video I knew it was going to be a hit. Right after I stopped laughing at myself for being such a scared-y cat, I told myself “Just one more entry…”

(If you enjoy this series, you’ll also like the Trackers series by Patrick Carman. It’s only two books into the series, but it follows a similar format of providing videos to go along with the story. I’ve enjoyed both books, but I have to say that the Skeleton Creek series is more my style.)

Read the rest here – www.wired.com/geekdad

The Skeleton Creek site has been redesigned, the series trailer is a wrap, Sarah’s got her camera, and Ryan has his journal. The stage is set for the final mysteries of Skeleton Creek to be revealed.

Visit the redesigned Skeleton Creek website

Leave the lights on! And thank you again for coming along for the ride.

Purchase the book:

Amazon.com
Barnes & Nobel

Patrick Carman

Intrepid has tapped Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson to adapt “Skeleton Creek,” Scholastic’s book-video hybrid series set in Skeleton Creek, Ore., where two teens encounter a potentially supernatural entity while exploring an abandoned gold mine, launching them into an investigation of their town’s long-buried secrets.

The Skeleton Creek website features videos that have tallied more than 8 million hits. “Skeleton Creek #4: The Raven” will be published in May.

Rebecca Sonnenshine’s to pen the screenplay for “13 Days to Midnight,” published by Little Brown Books. Story centers on a boy who’s granted the power of indestructibility from his dying foster father.

Sonnenshine’s credits include “Within,” “The Haunting of Molly Hartley” and “American Zombie.”

Intrepid recently wrapped production on “The Raven,” starring John Cusack and set for distribution by Relativity. It produced action feature “The Cold Light of Day,” directed by Mabrouk El Mechri and starring Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver with Summit set to release.

Carman also penned the five-part “The Land of Elyon” series, the three-part series “Atherton,” “The Black Circle,” and the fifth title in “The 39 Clues” series and the multimedia “Trackers” series.

Carman’s repped for film and TV by Susan Schulman Literary Agency in association with Fine Print Literary Management.

Lyle and Nickerson are repped by the Kapler Stahler Agency, the Gotham Group and attorney Ryan Nord.

Sonnonshine’s repped by ICM, Circle of Confusion and attorney Adam Kaller.

Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcnary@variety.com

Read the rest here – www.variety.com

1. The expanding Young Adult audience
2. The year of dystopian fiction
3. Mythology-based fantasy (Percy Jackson followed by series like The Kane Chronicles, Lost Heroes of Olympus and Goddess Girls)
4. Multimedia series (The 39 Clues, Skeleton Creek, The Search for WondLa)
5. A focus on popular characters – from all media
6. The shift to 25 to 30 percent fewer new picture books, with characters like Pinkalicious, Splat Cat and Brown Bear, Brown Bear showing up in Beginning Reader books
7. The return to humor
8. The rise of the diary and journal format (The Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Dear Dumb Diary, Dork Diaries, The Popularity Papers, and Big Nate)
9. Special-needs protagonists
10. Paranormal romance beyond vampires (Linger and Linger, Beautiful Creatures, Immortal, and Prophesy of the Sisters)

Great to make the list!

PC

Sarah, an aspiring filmmaker, records her various expeditions and posts videos of them on her site, at sarahfincher.com, which readers can access when they encounter various passwords throughout the book. The videos are pretty spooky, and Sarah’s site is full of hidden links that make repeated visits worthwhile. Unfortunately, reality requires the book to make some compromises. Given that not everyone has access to the Internet at all times, the book’s narrator, Ryan, is prone to recapping the videos in the pages that follow each new password. In this fashion, the book tries to have it both ways: it wants to offer a rich multimedia experience for the reader while having the story stand on its own, broadband connection or not.

But “The Crossbones” makes a different attempt to bridge online and off-line content that is more interesting and important. At various times, Sarah and Ryan find information useful to their investigation by way of a Google or YouTube search. These searches are described in some detail — enough so that a reader can go down the same path and find the same information. These are not Web pages made by the book’s author to appear real, but actual sites and videos that predate the book. This “found search result” form of storytelling is a clever way to bring in the outside world without calling too much attention to the practice.

Read the rest here – www.nytimes.com

What happens when an author combines good old book reading with mini-movies you watch for the next part of the story? — the “Skeleton Creek” book series! The series by Patrick Carman has been a hit with students at Braden River Middle School for the last year. Students in the school’s dropout prevention and Exceptional Student Education programs got to speak with the author via Skype Nov. 4.

The East County Observer got the scoop regarding why this series has been such a success among students and what it was like to speak with the author himself.

Jacob Andrews
How many of the ‘Skeleton Creek’ books have you read?
I’ve read the first two books. I already read “The 39 Clues” series.

What was it like to meet the author?
That was one of the most exciting things in my life. He’s my role model.

Damian Williams
What do you think about having the video as part of the book?
Video makes me want to read more. It makes it scarier.

Katie Morin
How did you get hooked on the book series?
Everyone told me to read it, and it was amazing. I never thought I would like a book like that — it’s scary.

What do you think about watching the videos as part of the story?
They make me want to read more. But all my teachers in elementary school always said books are better than movies, and it’s really true.

Read the rest here – www.yourobserver.com

This third book in the Skeleton Creek series was a surprise. I thought there were going to be just 2 books, and greatly enjoyed Skeleton Creek and Ghost in the Machine, and after some books this summer where book three did not live up to expectations I approached this with a little trepidation. With Patrick Carman I should have known better. This book was awesome. It lived up to the quality, skill in storytelling and creativity of the first two, maybe even surpassed them. Like the other two Skeleton Creek books, this one is told in two parts. The book is Ryan’s journal, hand-written, and Sarah’s videos. Every few chapters you get a code and go to a website and watch a video. Unlike the first two books, Sarah and Ryan are working on a problem together but doing it in different locations. Ryan is stuck in Skeleton Creek and Sarah’s family has moved to the east coast. She is driving across the country for film school at UCLA, but unknown to her parents, visiting haunted sites along the way to collect clues she and Ryan have solved that they found in the hunted dredge.

But both of their lives are getting more and more complicated. Ryan has to solve the clues fast enough so she will not have to backtrack and lose too much travel time. Ryan feels like he is being watched and Sarah’s videos seem to be capturing th?Only time will tell. But as they uncover clue after clue they realize the stakes are higher than they ever expected. The Crossbones has a long history of destroying people who got in their way and now Ryan and Sarah find themselves in their crosshairs.

I read the book twice, first just reading the book, the second time through watching the video’s where indicated. I did this to see if the book can stand on it’s own, and it does, even just reading Ryan’s journal it is a great story, but when you watch the video’s it becomes truly magnificent. Patrick Carman is a master storyteller, he is creative, and has a wide breadth of different stories, and genre’s and even for various age groups. Every book of his I have read I have thoroughly enjoyed and always anticipate his new books. This one left me eagerly anticipating book 4 which is not due out for a year. This is another great book by a great author!

Read the review here - Book Reviews and More

Book Fair Highlight: Skeleton Creek 3
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And here’s a little secret for Skeleton Creek readers: Skeleton Creek, Book 4, will be out in the spring of 2011. The Raven awaits!